Method and means for raising water or other liquid by compressed air



C. DiCZKSON METHOD AND MEANS FOR RAISING WATER OR OTHER LIQUID BYCOMPRES SED AIR Filed Sept. 1920 2 Sheet$-Sheet 1 Y *1 F G L M I IMETHOD AND MEANS FOR RAISING WATER OR OTHER LIQUID BY COMPRESSED AIRFiled Sept. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July 10, 1923. p

A uni-TED s'rArEs menus Parser cries.

ROBERT COCHRAN DICKSON, OF MEDAN DELI, SUMATRA.

METHOD MEANS FOR RAISING WATER OR OTHER LIQUID BY COMPRESSED AIR.

Application filed September 8, 1920. Serial No. 408,915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bonner CocHRAN DIoKsoN, mechanical engineenA. ,M. T.M. E, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 10"Poloniaweg, Medan Deli, Sumatra, have invented certain new and usefulMethods and Means for Raising VVater. or Other Liquid by Compressed Air;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a method of, and automatically acting meansfor, pumping or 1 raising water or other liquid by compressed i Themethod according to this invention of raising liquid (practically in acontinuous stream) by means of compressed air consists, in employing asingle submersible air-tight tank divided into two air-tightcompartments-or if desired two separatejuxtaposed air-tight tanks orcontainers hereinafter referred to as compartmentsthe two compartmentsjbeing preferably identical and each of'said compartments being pro videdwith an admission port, an air exhaust port for the compressed air, andadmission and discharge'valves for the liquid to be 1 raised, and indischarging the liquid from the said compartments alternately byutilizing the resultant of the varying efforts of two weights (one ineach of said compartments) and two float weights (one in eachcompartment) each weight'and float weight in each said compartmentrespectively being subjected to the alternate rise and fall of liquid inthe said compartment to reverse the supply of compressed air from onecompartment to the other and by making the opening of the exhaust portfor the compressed air in each compartment successively followimmediately after the closing of the corresponding admission port forthe compressed air in that compartment.

Oneconstruction of apparatus adapted to raise liquid (practically in acontinuous stream) in accordance with the method set forth above isillustrated in the accompanying drawing, a single submersible air-tighttank divided into two air-tight compartments being shown Fig. 1 being aplan of the tank.

Fig. 2 a vertical section on the line X-X of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 being a vertical cross-sectional view on the line Y Y, Fig.2looking in the direction of the arrows thereon.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing in detail the triggermechanism.

A A are the two separate compartments aforesaid provided with a cover B;water inlet valves (l C water discharge valves D D air inlet valves E Eand air exhaust valves J J The air inlet valves E E are provided witheyes above and below the valve seats. The eyes above the valve seatsbeing connected to the extremities of a rocking lever F which movesabout the fulcrum G, see Fig. 3.

The eyes below the inlet air valve seats are connected at H by the rodsE to independent levers H H to the extremities of which latter aresuspended weights I I which may be open-topped pots I I which whenfilled with water act as weights. The weight I is preferably heavierthan the weight P.

The exhaust valves J J are provided with eyes below the valve sea-tsconnected by the rods J to independent levers K K piovoted at and havingfloat-weights L L suspended at their extremities. These floatweights L Lact in the double capacity of floats when the compartments A A arefilled with water and weights when the water is discharged or partlydischarged from said compartments; the axles Z Z acting as fulcrums ofthe levers H H are fixed to the levers at one end and have triggers T Tfixed at the other ends which engage with catches on the ends of thelevers K K On the upper side of the cover B are (a) a hollow chamber Mextending over both air inlet valves E E having an opening M forconnecting to an air supply pipe and (.71) a hollow chamber 0 whichextends over bot outlets from the water discharge valves D D andprovided with an opening P for connecting to a water discharge pipe.

The air exhaustvalves J J may be screwed exteriorly to suit independentair exhaust pipes or otherwise.

The action is as follows The tank, i. e., the entire contrivance, issubmerged in water.

Both compartments fill through the water inlet valves 0 C The floats L Lrise with the water to the top of the compartments A A The weight Ibeing slightly heavier exhaust valves for the com 'iressed air,

than the Weight I the air inlet valve E re mains closed. Compressed airis admitted to the conduit M and as it fills the compartment A throughthe air inlet valve E it expels the Water through the discharge valve DAs the level of the water in the compartment A is reduced the tloat Lbecomes a Weight but remains at the top of the comaartment held in thisposition by the gcr T i The Weight I becomes heavier and heavier as theater recedes until it overcomes the air pressure on the air inlet valveE (in the other compartment) and opens it closing the air inlet valve Esimultaneously.

T he movement of the lever H releases the trigger T and allows the floatweight I to drop and open the exhaust valve J The opening: of the airinlet valve E raises the lever ll connected with it and engages thetrigger T thus preventing the float Weight L from dropping.

il hen the pressure inside the chamber is released by the opening); ofthe c l a valve J this chamber fills with \va through the water inletvalve C The action described ahovo takes place a l ternatoly in thechambers ii, A, as long as air pressure is suppliedv V and V aredash-pots to bring the .dc scendino; float weights to rest rently.

The trigger action above reierred to a for exampleobtained by providing:lever K K with. Fr' l ahutmcnts 8- the triggers T '1 Hi 11 sears orabutments l2 il which latter adapted to engage and ust t i hold theabutments S and thcr y lock the levers K K in turn until the tr rs T arerocked as aforesaid and so re levers K K in turn.

What I claim is:

l, .i'llpparritus For raising liquid practh ly in continuous stream bymeans cit compressed air comprising tvvo submersible air-tightcontiguous compartments each provided ivith inlet and discharge valvesfor the liquid to be raised l admission and in each compartment actuatedby the fall of liquid in one compartment to close the corresponding airadmission valve for that compartment and open the an admission valve torthe other compartment, means in each compartment for opening thecorrespondin air exhaust valve and adapted to be set in operativeposition by the previous rise of liquid in the same compartment andmeans actuated upon the opening movement of the air admission valve forpositively locking the said air exhaust valve and opening means 1 auismfor closing the compressed air 9 in the operative position and forunlockingthe upon the closing movement of said air admission valvesubstantially as set forth.

2. In apparatus according to claim 2 an over-load upon one of theadmission valves for the compressed air With respect to the load on theother air admission valve Whereby the raising of the liquid isautomatically started upon the admisison of compressed air substantiallyas described.

An apparatus for raising liquid hy means of compressed air,co1npri.singtvvo submersible air-tight contiguous compart" ments provided Withinlet'and discharge valves for the liquid to be raised, and admissionand exhaust valves for the roar pressed air and means for no 'olling theop eration of said compressed valves so as to cause the liquid to beraised alternately from said compartments, said means acting uponmovement of the Weight mechanism in opposite directions to open andclose the corn pressed air admission valves if the compartments,connections between the compressed aid admission valves constructed tocause one of said valves to be opened when the other valve is closed,and mea tor loclr ing the air exhaust valve of each of the compartmentsin closed position, when the compressed air admission valve vo'l thecompartment is open. v

An apparatus for raising; liquid by compressed air, comprising a chamberprovided with inlet and discharging; vs lves for the liquid'being raisedand adm i n and exhaust valves forthe compressed air, nr-c missionvalve, means for closing the air' 7 haust valve and meanscojntrolled bysaid mechanism forlocking the air exhaust VillV-B in closed positionwhen the compressed air admission valve is in open position.

5. An apparatus for raising liquid by means of compressed air,comprising a cl1amher provided With inlet and discharge valves for theliquid to raised, and admission and exhaust valves for the compressedair, mechanism for opening and closing the com pressed airadmissionvalve, means for closing the air exhaust valve and trig ermecha-- nism associated with said firstmentioned mechanism and saidmeans, said trigger mechanisinheing constructed to lock the air exhaustvalve in closed position when the air admission valve is open and tounlock the air exhaust valve when the air admission valve is closed.

ROBERT CQCHRAN DICKSON,

